FN Dish

Cupcake Wars: Tony Awards

Cupcake Wars judge Candace Nelson is the founder and pastry chef of Sprinkles Cupcakes, the world’s first cupcake bakery. She joins us on the FN Dish each week to recap all the sweet details of the competition from her seat at the judges’ table. Here’s what she had to say about this week’s episode.

There's nothing I look forward to more than returning champions day -- to see the familiar faces of former winners "baking it out" makes for great competition and delicious tastings. Let me also take my hat off to the champions, Doron, Arlene, Rebecca and Victoria, who were willing to take the risk to come back again. They had a lot to lose and it took guts to do.

Florian and I had high hopes for our champions, but it was a rocky start from the very beginning. In round one, Rebecca wowed us with her molecular gastronomy creativity, but lost sight of the most important factor: baking time for her cupcakes. She was left with over-baked cupcakes and a charred crust.

In round two, we were mystified that no one translated the magic of Broadway into magical decorations. Were our risk-taking champions playing it safe? Victoria came closest to embracing the Tony Awards with her comedy-tragedy mask and her larger-than-life "Big Apple" cupcake. In the end, Arlene was the one who put it together the best. Her cupcakes were transformed into guests dressed and seated inside a Broadway theater. Pretty clever indeed.